I just love fairy tales!!!
It was my favorite unit of study to do with my students. I collect
fairytale books with beautiful illustrations as well as funny, fractured
fairy tale books. Below are some ideas I've used with my students,
resources from the teachers I work with (thank you ladies!), and resources
found on the web. Hope you enjoy it!

"It is difficult to define a
fairytale. When created by a single author, it is called a literary
fairytale. Hans Christian Anderson, Oscar Wilde and John
Ruskin all borrowed from traditional folktales to write original
fairytales. Often the literary fairytale uses the same patterns as
traditional folktales.

Folktales grow out of the oral
tradition of storytelling. They are not the work of a single
author but rather the work of many cumulative authors. Each
teller makes personal changes to suit his personality and audience.

Just to complicate matters, a
folktale containing fairies, elves, trolls, dwarfs, giants, and
other imaginary creatures is usually called a fairytale. A
fairytale is often a story about royalty, rather than common folk.
Thus fairytales can be considered a sub-category of folktales, but
the name is often used interchangeably."

These are general
vocabulary words for a fairytale unit. Another good idea would be to create a word wall for each fairy
tale you read in your class. Many words found in fairy tales
are not listed here.

prince

princess

queen

brave

king

castle

fairy

dragon

witch

good

evil

beautiful

spell

magic

once
upon a time...

cottage

kiss

happily ever after...

forest

sword

knight

wolf

giant

elf

dwarf / dwarves

frog

toad

bear

pig

axe

horse

tower

Literacy Activities:

Write book reports
using this fairy tale book
report form from ABC Teach.